Southern navy chief killed in accidental fire

Rear Admiral Satyendra Singh Jamwal, Navy's Southern Command chief of staff, was killed in an "accidental firing" incident at a training centre in Kochi on Wednesday.

Jamwal, 51, who was the second in command of the Navy's Southern Command, was at the training establishment INS Dronacharya's small arms firing range when the accidental firing occurred around 1030 Hours, a Navy spokesperson said in New Delhi.

The Navy has ordered an investigation into his death, the spokesperson said.

The Navy was, however, tightlipped here about how the incident occurred.

Police said the body was shifted to a hospital and further probe is in progress.

Rear Admiral Jamwal was commissioned in the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer on July 1, 1980, and specialised in anti-submarine warfare (ASW).

He is an alumnus of Lawrence School at Sanawar, National Defence Academy (NDA), Grechko Naval War College in the then USSR, Defence Services Staff

His staff appointments at Naval headquarters included Joint Director of Staff Requirement and Director Naval Operations.

During his training assignments, he was the Executive Officer at Naval Academy in Goa and Instructor at ASW School, Kochi. He has also been the Aide-de-Camp to the President of India between 1983 and 1985.

On promotion to Flag Rank on September 1 last year, he took over as Chief of Staff of the Southern Naval Command, which also handles all training activities of the Navy.

Prior to this, he was a Naval Attache at the Indian Embassy at Moscow, Russia.

The Admiral, who was from Jammu, is survived by wife Geeta Jamwal and a daughter and son.